Cute movie

Yes the plot has been done many times before. As with most romantic
comedies, it's nothing deep, had some cheesy moments and was totally
predictable (I figured out the whole movie in the first 10 minutes).

But I really enjoyed it all the same. I laughed a lot in this movie.
Partly because I could totally relate to trying to live life under the
radar as woman that doesn't look like a model. Plus it was refreshing
to see an African American woman shown with some depth in a movie. Not
just the mean black woman.

There was very little cussing, little sexuality, and no nudity. Truly
refreshing these days.

If you just want to enjoy a movie without having to put too much
thought into it, go see this movie.

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42 out of 46 people found the following review useful:

Austin Movie Show review - adorable and enjoyable

I had no idea I would enjoy myself so much! Queen Latifah plays Georgia
Byrd, a shy, quiet, insecure frump, with a secret passion for cooking
and for her co-worker, Sean (the most endearing character that L.L.
Cool J. has ever played!). After hitting her head and suffering a
concussion, Georgia has a cat-scan that reveals several brain tumors.
With less than a month to live, Georgia takes all the money she has and
treats herself to the European vacation of a lifetime. She flies first
class, stays in the Presidential suite, eats the finest food, and lives
like she was dying. "Last Holiday" is pure fantasy and pure fun, and it
never takes death too seriously. Gerard Depardieu plays the delightful
world-famous Chef Didier who equates Georgia's appetite for food with
an exquisite appetite for life. "The meaning of life," he tells her,
"is butter." So go treat yourself to this fun little film, get a large
popcorn, and don't skip on the butter.

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43 out of 48 people found the following review useful:

Our audience applauded at the end

OK, "Last Holiday" is not an Oscar contender, but it is an uplifting
and well-made film. Georgia, the main character played by Queen
Latifah, was living a very dull and boring life and suddenly, she
realized that there was more to life than working all day and eating
microwave dinners. She was a woman who followed her dreams. Timothy
Hutton is a wonderful villain and LL Cool J plays his heartthrob role
very well. The Czech Republic provided a gorgeous (albeit COLD)
backdrop. Yes, some of the plot points are implausible, but who cares?
The scenery - and Queen Latifah's wardrobe - were breathtaking and most
important, this movie was ENTERTAINING and these days, there are very
few films that you can say that about. At the performance I attended,
there were about 200 people in the audience and we all applauded at the
end of the film. Go see it for a good laugh!

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55 out of 72 people found the following review useful:

Very good romantic comedy, funny from beginning to end.

I went to see this movie because i had already seen all the other
movies playing in the theater and i was actually very surprised with
how good this movie was! i really enjoyed it, i enjoyed the script, the
story, the acting, the characters and although it was semi predictable
as is any romantic comedy, it definitely kept me on my toes, i really
enjoyed it. Queen Latifah definitely knows how to pick a good script. I
gave the movie an 8 out of 10 because although it's not particularly my
type of movie, i really did enjoy it.

I recommend taking the whole family to see this one, or a date, it
would even be a fun movie to take your mom to go see!

One thing i suggest, don't go into this movie hungry because there is a
lot of delicious looking food in it. My mouth was watering the entire
time.

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59 out of 80 people found the following review useful:

An Optimistic movie.

I thought this movie to be highly enjoyable. It had all the right
ingredients (pun intended) of a classic "feel good" movie. In a
generation full of hectic rush and non stop "mean-ness," this movie was
a little ounce of what we need more in the world; optimism. "Live life
to the fullest." Unfortunately that theme isn't common nowadays. There
doesn't seem to be one part of this movie that isn't enjoyable. There's
just the right amount of humor that allows Queen Latifa to shine as a
comedian as well as heart in her performance which makes you care for
and relate to this character. I hope this movie receives a lot of
credit and praise despite the timing of its release. I applaud the
actors and the especially the writers for making such a happy movie.

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51 out of 72 people found the following review useful:

This movie will make you feel good.

I saw this film with my mom, and we both loved every minute of it. In
fact, I'm pretty sure everyone loved it, because it was one of the only
movies that everyone clapped at the end. Although it was often silly
and predictable, it was absolutely hysterical and had a lot of heart.

Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah), a worker at a supermarket, is a normal,
shy and reserved person. She's afraid to talk to the guy she loves
(Sean, played by LL Cool J), and she never does anything exciting.
Within the first 15 minutes, you see her cook a wonderful looking meal
which she cooked along with the show "Emeril", in which she takes a
picture of and gives to her neighbor. She in turn eats a Lean Cuisine.
These greatly affect the establishment of her character, so I give
props to the writers.

She later hits her head and learns that she has a terminal disease and
is going to die in 3 weeks. She is very sad at first, and goes back to
her normal life for a day or two, when she finally looks at her
possibilities book (a book with all the things she wish she would have
eaten, vacations she wanted to go on, and fake pictures of her marrying
Sean), and decides to go to the "Grandhotel Pupp" and live up her last
three weeks.

Once at the hotel, she sees the senator of Louisianna (who was supposed
to attend her church service) and Congressman Kragen, the owner of the
chain of shops that she works at. She also meets the hotel staff,
ranging from a mean housekeeper to a kind chef she had wanted to meet.
That is where the humor really starts.

She completely splurges, getting the nicest room in the hotel and
getting orders of everything in the restaurant, making everyone think
she is a very important person. She also manages to get many different
spa treatments and do many exciting things including snowboarding and
base jumping.

You get all the humor of a typical Queen Latifah movie, with a lot of
heart that will make you love the movie even more. The drama isn't
really extremely big, but it really makes you enjoy the movie more. The
best part of the movie, in my opinion, is when Georgia says "Next
time... we will laugh more, we'll love more; we just won't be so
afraid.". It makes you appreciate life and enjoy the movie. You will
laugh, you may even cry, but you will leave the theater with a smile on
your face.

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40 out of 53 people found the following review useful:

You'll laugh, you'll cry, but love it.

Nice feel-good movie comedy that had me laughing and crying at
different parts. Fantasy but everyone could relate. It rings as true,
or could be true in a positive way. Queen L. carries the show as a
hardworking everyman who is good at her job but finds out she only has
3 weeks to live. She decides to take her money and spend it all on the
ultimate vacation before she dies. Timothy Hutton is a believable jerk
who plays his part as the owner of the company just right without
overdoing it. Latifah runs into Hutton and his rich friends who don't
know who this mystery woman spending all the money is at the luxury
resort but Latifah shows that she has more class than all of the rich
guests put together. I hope this movie turns into a big word of mouth
success at the box office.

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24 out of 28 people found the following review useful:

Enjoyable Feel Good Movie

Currently, we have our fair share of pointless actions films (absent of
any plot and decent script) or films that are trying to take themselves
too seriously or films that are too dark and downbeat or films which
try to be funny but are not so it was a pleasure to go with my family
recently to see Last Holiday.

Queen Latifah comfortably heads a cast who delivered solid, believable
performances across the board (and some new faces to me). OK, the story
was a bit contrived and some sequences were a bit far fetched (the snow
board ride for instance) but it was a great deal of fun.

The story, which looked at people's aspirations and dreams and the need
to take every day as it comes, to enjoy life to the full (as we don't
know what is round the corner) was played out with great passion and
skill. Latifah's comedy acting (loved the raised eyebrow and sideways
glances) was relaxed and easily won over the sympathy of the audience.
Great, also, to see Gerard Depardieu again as I haven't seen him for a
while.

Refreshingly set in snowy Prague, good Direction and lovely
Cinematography. I recommend that you see it.

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33 out of 46 people found the following review useful:

A truly delightful romantic comedy!

I really enjoyed this movie! Its a nice, light movie to start out the
New Year and clear away those post-holiday blues! Treat yourselves,
forget about your troubles for 2 hours and see this film! It was much
better than I thought it was going to be and I found myself smiling at
the end. The audience clapped when the credits started rolling if that
gives you any indication. Queen was stunning and so was the scenery.
The cast of characters were funny enough, and the hotel setting was so
elegant; makes you just want to hop on a plane to Prague! This movie
will probably never be nominated for an award, but who cares! It was
fun and sometimes that's what going to the movies should be about;
especially given all the heavy hitters nominated for Golden Globes this
year... Yikes, talk about depressing! I would say this movie may be
more appealing to women. So, ladies call your best friends, take your
mom, sisters, nieces and enjoy!

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20 out of 25 people found the following review useful:

Worth a Look

Queen Latifah play Georgina Byrd, a New Orleans saleswoman who learns
that she only has a few weeks to live, so she decides to use her
remaining time to take a dream vacation to a European resort. Once
there, she starts taking on all sorts of risks and challenges because
she really has nothing to lose.

Last Holiday is clearly not an Oscar worthy film but it is an enjoyable
one and one that's hard to hate. The premise is pretty depressing yet
optimistic at the same time. Georgia is a hardworking, quiet and
hopeful girl. In the beginning of the movie, she lives a dull existence
until she hits her head and finds out she is going to die in two weeks.
After this, she decides to live life to the fullest. She doesn't want
to be scared of the world anymore. For her final two weeks, she decides
to fly to a fancy hotel in Prague she has always dream of going to.
This raises the question if you need to have a lot of money to really
live life to the fullest. It seems a little too much for me but
everyone would want to spend their last two weeks differently. For
those expecting a movie like the original, forget it. The original had
an effective twist at the end and it was more social commentary than
escapist humor. This version is more escapist humor but that doesn't
mean it's a bad movie just not as effective as the original.

What really makes Last Holiday something is Queen Latifah. She offers a
dazzling and enjoyable performance as Georgia. Her character is really
hard to hate as well. LL Cool J plays Sean and he likes Georgia but he
is kind of afraid to make a move. LL Cool J's performance is actually a
little weak so it's a good thing that he didn't get a lot of screen
time. Tim Hutton was pretty good as the bad guy. Alicia Witt was okay,
a little bland though. There were some other supporting characters that
were funny like Susan Kellerman as Gunther.

Despite the film's good nature and warm feelings, it was still too
cheesy at times. Apparently, everyone at the hotel is living an
uneventful life. However, just watching Queen Latifah have fun is
enough for them to change their own lifestyles. I thought it was a
little cheesy that she was able to touch everyone at the hotel. I also
didn't like the fact that Wayne Wang kept the film too safe. His
vanilla like directing prevented the movie from really breaking out.
The screenplay was okay just not very original and kind of generic. In
fact, if Queen Latifah were not present then the whole film would have
been forgettable. Last Holiday proves she is an effective actress when
given the right material. In the end, this warm, good spirited movie is
worth checking out if you like Queen Latifah. Rating 6/10